Hella posi

To combat all the negativity going on elsewhere on this site, can we devote this discussion to calling people out for being awesome? No shit talking, no belittling someone else's comment, no intentionally inflammatory statements, just giving people the credit they deserve. And if someone praises someone you dislike, just let it be. Think whatever you want, scream into your pillow, write a little note in your hate journal, whatever, just don't start anything here. OK? I'll start:

Krissy is amazing not only for starting this site but because her zines are amazing, too. When I was in Kuala Lumpur I saw an issue of "Figure 8" stuck up on the wall of this really cool punk studio space. It was below a Rambo tour poster, opposite the wall with an original pressing of Joy Division's "An Ideal for Living". How's that for cred? And she's totally sweet and friendly in person.

Replies to This Discussion

hey i totally missed this. thanks, kami and matthew, for going all sundae on monstress.

i'm really pleased with all the neat creepy/freaky/geeky zines i've gotten through here, like kami's sprak. issue 5's introduction gave me a laugh just the other night. ali from best available has wonderful zines--sad robots and a kawaii book of revelation. i love redguard's 24 hour dracula zine. someone should get aijung kim and liu ying-chieh book deals already.

i've really enjoyed i am's discussions and her willingness to bring up all kinds of things. and roger simian is just an incredibly nice man who i've enjoyed talking about art with.

also, thanks to this site, i've reconnected with some zinesters i'd lost touch with, like matthew and aMy. so thanks, krissy.

kami said:

i've enjoyed any number of zines recently that have come directly from trades on this site/people ive found because of WMZ. Monstress #10 was a great slab of ye olde lovecraftian lore with a sense of humour to boot and Zacery's zines always make me laugh... i like the way he is exploring his world and thoughts on paper... some interesting insights there, D90 mixtape zine is a great read and Travesty ( musings on being a transvestite metalhead) is a great little journal;/perzine and i dont even like perzines that much.

I wanna talk cake on all the fine folk out there who put their heart and souls into the fine zine distos that I use. I wanna talk cake on Andrew Culture at Corn Dog Zine Distro in the UK. I wanna talk cake on Sparky and Joe at Microcosm in the USA. I wanna talk cake on all the kids at Format in Adelaide. I wanna talk cake on Susy at Bird In The Hand in Newcastle. I wanna talk cake on Emma and Tim at Take Care Zine Distro in Sydney. I wanna talk cake on Patrick at the Toronto Zine Library. I wanna talk cake on Taylor at Parcell Press in the USA. I wanna talk cake on Ciara at Paper Trail in the USA (RIP). I wanna talk cake on Eddie at Zinemonger in the UK. I wanna talk cake on Eloise, Melissa, Androniki, Bec, Aaron (and myself) at Sticky in Melbourne. And I wanna talk cake on all the good folk at Quimbys Bookstore in Chicago, Needles And Pens in San Francisco, Reading Frenzy in Portland, ARC in Sydney, Monorail Music in Glasgow, Allan's Walk Artist Run Space in Bendigo, Planet Bookstore in Perth. That a whole lot of cake. Luke/Sticky.

as a former posi-identified person, i dislike the implication that "keeping it posi" and "keeping it critical" and especially calling people out on fucked up behavior are mutually exclusive. the premise of this post really weirds me out, a lot. i mean, it's pretty obvious what it is in response to. "calling people out for being awesome"? really? why are legitimate concerns dismissed as "shit-talking"? and while were at it, what's wrong with shit-talking? to paraphrase marjane satrapi, it's ventilation for the soul!

but moving right along...appreciations!!!
ciara xyerra, for making amazing zines like love letters to monsters, and being a huge inspiration to me. for always "keeping it critical" and calling out dudes on this site, though not generally for being awesome. for running paper trail distro for seven years and being a consistent source of great, well-written and thought-provoking zines. for tabling paper trail at the midwest zine fest in detroit...during the blackout of 2003. i am sad to see paper trail go, but you can't keep doing the same shit forever, and i am even more excited to see what ciara does next. you can still order her zines love letters to monsters and up the logic punks! on the paper trail distro website. if you haven't read them yet, you should.
eva louise, for writing what i saw from where i stood and being an amazing printmaker, mama and wingnut lady artist. for zine making parties at our old house in maine and all the encouragement with my projects.for letting me borrow her print gocco, and for being the first person to send me my first piece of mail at the last four houses i have lived at. you can order what i saw from where i stood from vampire sushi distro, and i think her address is on the zine wikipedia page for her zine. i can't recommend it enough.
nadia ann, for writing no snow here the zines and the blog, for her work with the speak! collective, and for being a huge inspiration as an artist. for giving me a garbage bag full of beautiful handmade paper scraps (even though this definitely worsened my paper-hoarding tendencies) and two boxes of zines for the trumbullplex zine library when she moved. i miss you so much, babe!!
cindy ovenrack, for making doris and support zines. doris might be my favorite zine ever, hands down. sometimes i am amazed that she has been making it for so long and it keeps on being a consistently great and inspiring zine. when i am in a bad mood, i'll sit in bed rereading the anthology book and drinking tea and it always makes me feel at least a little bit better. i used the support zine a lot as resource in planning a workshop series on sexual violence and supporting survivors, and i'm so glad that it exists.

big ups to jrae for writing what she did here. dismissing legitimate issues such as someone having a history of abusive behavior as "shit talk" is patently fucked up. if that's what passes these days as "keeping it posi," i am so glad that i always had a hunch that "keeping it posi" was a nice little corner of dismissive denial that assholes lived in. & here is my "proof posi," as it were.

that said, jrae, nicole wolfersberger (formerly of "texttrap" & textwrap press), LB from stranger danger distro, & amanda colianni (who never made a zine, but lived with zinesters who passed their lease on to me ten years ago, which is how i met her) are the best people i have met through zines & among the best i have met in my life.

I didn't mean to imply that being posi meant you couldn't call someone out for messed up behaviors; I apologize for this misunderstanding. I like to think I'm a pretty positive person but I have been known to call people out. I also didn't mean to dismiss legitimate concerns as shit-talking, I just felt, and I don't think I'm the only one, there was a lot of negativity in some discussions that wasn't going anywhere and kind of degenerated in to name calling and I wanted a space away from that. Shit talking is fine, but I think that needs to be among your friends, not in a public forum. And I want to make it clear: I do think calling people out belongs in an open forum, but I think specific behaviors need to be addressed if the discussion is to move forward. And I also want to be clear that this is totally not meant as an attack or anything on jrae or ciarra; I just wanted to let you know the reasons why I started this post. I think being critical and hashing things out openly is important, but it's also important to acknowledge the people you love and admire, especially in a community that the dominant culture tends to dismiss as a silly phase.

Now on to the bigging up: Sticky and Luke You are almost dangerously awesome. Between them and being able to see penguins, it's totally worth dropping a grand or so on a plane ticket. So many zines and zine making apparati crammed into such a small space. And everyone I met there was really friendly. And Luke put in a lot of work to make sure my time in Australia was amazing.